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1,700 iterations. One final design. Creating Meridian meant rethinking what a WHOOP band could look and feel like, without compromising what it was made to do. For Monica (Norris) Dunlap, Senior Product Manager of Apparel & Accessories here at WHOOP, that meant obsessing over every detail, from the intricacies of Milanese mesh to the way Meridian moves with you. The result is a band designed to feel as natural alongside your favorite jewelry as it does in your everyday routine. We went behind the design with Monica to see what it took to bring Meridian to life👇

Alcohol’s impact on your body doesn’t end when the buzz wears off. This week on the WHOOP Podcast, WHOOP Global Head of Human Performance and Principal Scientist Dr Kristen Holmes PhD. sits down with WHOOP Staff Research Scientist Dr. Gregory Grosicki, PhD, MDS to unpack new research on what alcohol really does to your body. Together, Dr. Holmes and Dr. Grosicki explore how alcohol affects sleep, recovery, resting heart rate, HRV, and next-day activity. The episode illustrates why those effects can differ by age and sex, and how seeing the physiological impact of alcohol in your own data may help drive lasting behavior change. Three takeaways from their conversation stood out to us: 1. Alcohol affects your body even when you don’t necessarily feel it. WHOOP data shows a clear dose-response relationship between alcohol and recovery: as alcohol consumption increases, resting heart rate rises, HRV falls, sleep gets shorter and more fragmented, and next-day activity declines. Even one drink more than your personal average is associated with a 2–3 beat-per-minute increase in resting heart rate and a 4–5 millisecond decrease in HRV. The takeaway: not feeling hungover doesn’t mean your body hasn’t paid a physiological cost. 2. You can’t “work off” a night of drinking. One of the more surprising findings was that doing more exercise than usual on a day you drink can actually amplify alcohol’s impact on your physiology. Exercise and alcohol both place stress on the body, and stacking those stressors may make recovery more difficult. If you know you’re going to drink, the research suggests sticking closer to, or slightly below, your typical strain rather than trying to compensate with an especially hard workout. 3. Seeing the impact of your choices can help change them. In a separate study of 30,000 WHOOP members over 72 weeks, researchers found that members became progressively less likely to report drinking alcohol over time. By week 72, members were about 25% less likely to report drinking on a given day than when they first joined WHOOP. While the study was observational and can’t establish exactly why behavior changed, Kristen and Greg discuss how consistently seeing the connection between alcohol, sleep, recovery, and performance can turn an invisible cost into actionable feedback. The goal isn’t to demonize alcohol or anyone’s choices. It’s to understand what alcohol is doing to your body, recognize that its effects aren’t always visible, and use your own data to make more informed decisions about your health. Listen to the full episode now on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.

Members can now experience the WHOOP app in Arabic, bringing personalized insights across sleep, strain, and recovery to even more people around the world. It’s another step toward making WHOOP more accessible globally and helping more people better understand their bodies, build better habits, and unlock performance for life.

Home-court advantage is losing ground. An analysis of 3,489 WNBA games across 18 seasons reveals how changing travel conditions are reshaping performance in women's professional basketball. As league-wide travel conditions have improved, home win rates have fallen from 64.3% to 52.3%. But the demands of the road haven't disappeared. Away teams allowed 0.37 more points for every additional 1,000 miles traveled. And with the body clock taking roughly one day per time zone to adjust, every opportunity to prioritize sleep, recovery, and preparation counts. The gap between home and away is narrowing. But how athletes travel still matters. Read the full breakdown: http://spr.ly/WNBA

What actually happens to your body when you stop working out? The answer is more nuanced than you might think. We’re excited to see Gregory Grosicki, PhD, MDS, Staff Research Scientist at WHOOP, featured in Outside, sharing his expertise on the science of detraining and what happens to the body when we take time away from exercise. From cardiovascular fitness to muscle performance and recovery, Greg helps break down how the body responds to time away from training and why taking a break doesn't necessarily mean losing your progress. At WHOOP, understanding how the body adapts to both training and recovery is central to our mission of unlocking human performance. It's exciting to see the expertise of our team contributing to the broader conversation around health, fitness, and longevity. Read Greg’s insights and the full breakdown in Outside👇 https://lnkd.in/gyqrCweY

AI can help us do more. But how do we make sure we don’t lose what makes us human in the process? This week on the WHOOP Podcast WHOOP SVP of Research, Algorithms, and Data Emily Capodilupo sits down with philosopher and AI researcher Dr. Aleksandra Przegalinska to explore the evolving relationship between humans and artificial intelligence. Together, Emily and Aleksandra unpack how AI is changing the way we work, create, learn, and think. The episode explores how the future may depend less on what AI can do and more on how thoughtfully we choose to use it. Three takeaways from their conversation stood out to us: 1. More productivity doesn’t necessarily mean less work. AI promises to save us time, but greater capability can also create pressure to do more. Emily and Aleksandra discuss how AI agents can remove traditional stopping points from the workday, creating an almost endless ability to prototype, iterate, and execute. Aleksandra’s research explores the emotional side of this new way of working—from the satisfaction of accomplishing more to the overwhelm and “brain fry” that can come from constantly managing AI. The challenge is learning where AI can amplify your abilities without allowing that increased capacity to consume your time and attention. 2. Not everything we can delegate to AI should be delegated. AI can be an incredible collaborator, but relying on it too heavily may come at the expense of creativity, skill development, and personal ownership. Aleksandra shares research showing that startup founders who worked less intensively with AI had more original ideas, while those who worked closely with AI performed better when it came time to execute them. The takeaway isn’t to use or avoid AI, it’s to become more intentional about the division of labor. Knowing which parts of the process benefit from human creativity and judgment, and which are better accelerated by AI, may become a critical skill in itself. 3. Human judgment needs to stay at the center. As AI becomes increasingly capable, Aleksandra argues that judgment, selection, and decision-making remain fundamentally important human responsibilities. That means questioning AI’s output, deciding when to trust it, and considering what might be lost when we outsource too much—from individual skills to the distinct voices and perspectives that make our work our own. For organizations adopting AI, that also means creating an open dialogue with employees about how the technology will be used, what its limitations are, and where humans fit into the process. Listen to the latest episode of the WHOOP Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.

What does it take to turn a difficult start into an October campaign? This week on the WHOOP Podcast, WHOOP Global Head of Human Performance and Principal Scientist Dr Kristen Holmes PhD sits down with Boston Red Sox stars Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu to talk about the trust, preparation, and recovery behind their season. Together, they reflect on navigating adversity, building a team-first clubhouse, performing under the pressure of playing in Boston, and preparing for the heightened intensity of October baseball. Three takeaways from their conversation stood out to us: 1. Winning starts with trust. For Contreras and Abreu, one of the biggest factors behind this season’s turnaround was learning to trust the teammate next to them. After a difficult start to the season, Abreu says the team never stopped believing in what it was capable of. The players knew that if they couldn’t get the job done in a particular moment, the teammate behind them could. Contreras brings a similar philosophy to leadership: make everyone feel like they’re part of the team, whether they’re a veteran or a recent call-up. As he puts it, “you win the game in the locker room first.” 2. Great performers prepare for pressure before it arrives. October baseball brings more noise, more emotion, and more intensity, but Abreu says the key is not allowing that energy to speed you up. Contreras adds that the situations that decide October games need to be practiced before they happen. Whether it’s moving over a runner, adjusting an approach at the plate, or anticipating the next play, preparation allows athletes to respond instead of react when the pressure is highest, so you know what to do when it arrives. 3. Recovery is part of respecting the game. Across the 162-game season, performance longevity matters. Contreras credits his own longevity in part to being intentional about sleep, nutrition, recovery, and using tools like WHOOP to understand what his body needs. He sees a direct connection between recovery and how he shows up mentally: when he sleeps well, he feels more focused, patient, and recovered. Contreras’ philosophy is simple: taking care of yourself means showing up at 100%, and that isn’t just a responsibility to yourself. It’s a way of respecting your teammates and the work everyone has put in together. Listen to the latest episode of the WHOOP Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.

Boston or New York? We analyzed data from WHOOP wearers in both cities to see which fans are ready to cheer their team on and which fans should consider focusing on recovery first. As the Official Health and Fitness Wearable of the Boston Red Sox it's clear who we're rooting for this week. Who do you have winning it all?

If you’re a healthcare professional, you spend every day helping others understand and improve their health. WHOOP gives you 24/7 insights and guidance to support your own. US-based individuals must verify eligibility through ID.me and claim the offer here: https://tr.ee/nyekPO Healthcare organizations outside of the US can reach out to healthcaresubsidy@whoop.com to learn how to redeem this discount on group orders for eligible professionals. Limited time only. Eligibility, verification, and full terms apply.